About Me

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Consensus politics

The longer time indoors has ended me spending more time on political research for questions asked online than anything else. I'm learning a lot even if no one new who reads it wants to know. Looking back on my education I do actually use the majority of what I learnt as I do still remember it when required, and whatever the level I stopped at is still extremely useful to me when I need it. Having done a year of accounting before switching to law I also learnt economics, plus sociology as we needed a minor subject for law as well. Constitutional law and jurisprudence join together to find political systems and motivations for law, so as well as my A level could put that all together to pretty well see how vested interests and power connections make the real world policies.

As we are painted as a democracy people vote and think it makes a difference. Over time the common policies grow, so we actually vote on the few differences while getting the same general plans whoever gets in. This is a gradual process much increased since the 60s, and Britain joined when in the Common Market from 1971 onwards, gradually handing over all its main functions. So we vote for very little now, the Tea Party appears to be the sole opposition in the western world currently, as look around and the EU is unified by regulation, Australia and New Zealand follow like sheep, Canada unfortunately seem to miss the radar entirely (but Leonard Cohen gets a lot of material from it if nothing else), and really there's no one else left who isn't either impoverished, totalitarian or both.

Thank goodness nothing stays fixed. However cynical I can't believe that things are stuck forever however powerful vested interests are, but is more a matter of luck to me than people power somehow overturning the corruption at the top levels as people only jump up and shout if corruption is discovered in the X Factor vote, when politicians do it they say 'so what, they always do' and return to their pint. That attitude lets the worst of the worst get in and stay in (I'd name names here but we can all think of plenty) while training their successors. Mafia politics basically and as the internet now allows people to find a few investments of top politicians and their families, you'll see how they change the law to make their pensions grow while they are still working. It's not only third world dictators who do this, they just don't care who knows as they would simply kill anyone who complained. Here it's a lot more subtle but no less criminal.